Calm Within the Storm
by mpissott
Summary: Commander Arya Shepard never expected to become best friends with her ship's pilot. The pilot didn't expect it either. Both of them want more, but will they ever share their feelings with each other? Rated M for potential language/future smut (Sorry for the cheesy name, I've never been great at titles!)
1. Chapter 1

Arya Shepard made her way through the droves Alliance soldiers crowding the docking bay, carrying a bag with her weapons and omni-tool on one arm, and lugging her crate filled with armor and civilian clothes with the other. She had been selected by Captain Anderson-the best the Alliance military had to offer-to serve on a top-of-the-line warship, the SSV Normandy, and he wanted her to arrive a day early to meet the rest of the crew. She wove through the sea of people until she reached the proper docking bay, giving the man guarding the door her credentials before stepping through. When she put away her ID and looked up, she couldn't believe the vessel that was docked before her.

The Normandy was everything she'd hoped it would be, and she hadn't even stepped inside of it yet. It was smooth, streamlined and stealthy-just like her. She stopped for a minute to take it all in. If you'd have told her when she was growing up in the streets on Earth that she'd have the opportunity to serve on a ship this beautiful, she'd have called you crazy.

After staring at the ship for far too long, she stepped up to the ship's entrance and pressed the door control.

"Stand by, shore party. Decontamination in progress," she heard the ship's VI say. After what felt like forever, the kinetic barriers depressurized and the doors swung open, allowing Shepard to step into the ship for the first time, immediately greeted by Captain Anderson.

She saluted the Captain, who returned the gesture before shaking her hand. "Shepard, welcome to the Normandy," he said. His informal tone brought a degree of comfort to Arya, who was more nervous than she'd thought. "Your sleeping pod and locker are downstairs. Why don't you get settled and then I'll give you a tour of the ship?"

"Yes, sir."

Arya had settled in quickly-there wasn't much space on a warship, so she knew to pack light. Anderson gave her the tour of the ship, leaving her even more stunned than when she'd first arrived. The Normandy was created with the assistance of the turians, and her foreign structure had given that away almost immediately. The CIC-with its beautiful galaxy map in the middle-had the captain of the ship standing above the rest of the crew. The crew quarters were like any other ship, complete with sleeping pods, the mess hall, a med bay, and the captain's quarters. What was really astounding was the engineering deck. Shepard had always been fascinated by spaceships, what it took to keep them going in space, the technology behind it all. The Normandy's drive core was larger than any she'd seen, but you wouldn't be able to tell looking at the ship's exterior. The technology in the engineering deck not only allowed the Normandy to travel in space like any other vessel-it allowed them to be invisible on scanners. This ship combined the two things Shepard loved the most-technology and stealth-and she knew immediately that she was at home here.

While Anderson had given her the tour, Shepard had run into most of the crew. She met Engineer Adams, who was thrilled when she showed knowledge of the inner workings of the ship. Dr. Chakwas was a sweet, older woman who would be serving as the Normandy's medical doctor. Navigator Pressly was a man that Captain Anderson spoke highly of, and a man who's been around for quite some time.

After her tour, she still had some members of the crew to meet, so she returned to the quarters where she finally introduced herself to Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko.

"Wow, you're Commander Shepard!" she heard the young Corporal exclaim. When he saw Lieutenant Alenko saluting, he stood upright and did the same. "Sorry ma'am," he said, clearly embarrassed, "I just got so excited. The hero of Akuze right in front of my eyes!"

"At ease," Shepard chuckled, enjoying the young man's enthusiasm. "I just wanted to come down here and meet everyone. It'll be a pleasure serving with both of you. I looked up your service records and can't wait to get this shakedown run started."

"Thank you, Commander," the more reserved Lieutenant said. "It's an honor to be serving with you. Jenkins and I don't want to take up too much of your time, we can all get to know each other later."

With that, the Commander nodded and continued up to the cockpit, seeking to meet the one crew member she hadn't met-the pilot.

When Joker first stepped onto the Normandy, it was love at first sight. After all his hard work, he was finally the pilot of a ship that deserved his skill. He had been living on the ship for a few days now, longer than any other crew member, and he knew her intimately. As the rest of the crew piled into the ship, he had already been comfortably seated at the helm, ignoring anyone that didn't come up to him directly-which meant he pretty much got to spend all of his time alone, getting familiar with all the ship's controls.

"Flight Lieutenant Moreau?" he heard from behind him, and he jumped. The voice had spoken softly, but he was in a trance staring at the controls and didn't hear the person come up behind him. He swung around quickly in his chair, only to see a new face, someone he didn't know personally, but recognized from Alliance vids.

Commander Shepard stood before him-the Great Commander Shepard. She was a household name for people in the Alliance, a hero. Yet here she was before him, the XO of the ship he was the pilot of, in street clothes-well, if an N7 operative tracksuit counts as street clothes.

"Um...Flight Lieutenant Moreau?" she repeated, snapping him out of his haze. He didn't realize he'd been staring, and quickly tried to come up with an excuse.

"Commander Shepard," he said coolly, saluting from his chair. "Sorry about that, I'm still taking in this baby, I feel like I'm dreaming being here."

"I understand," she smiled, "When I saw that drive core I fell in love!" He was taken aback by that. People that high up the military ladder usually don't notice things like the drive core, or its abilities. But he could tell she shared the same feelings he did about the ship, the way she smiled, her light blue eyes glowing with cheer.

"I'm glad someone else on this ship can appreciate her the way I do," Joker replied. "And please, Commander, just call me Joker."

"Okay, Joker," she said kindly, "Well, I just wanted to come up here and say I can't wait to serve with you. We'll catch up again later."

"You got it, Commander," Joker replied, as he turned around to return to the ship's controls.

Only, he couldn't focus on the controls anymore. He kept thinking about the Commander. Her features were severe, but not at all unkind. Her hair was jet black, which was in stark contrast to her light skin. Her blue eyes were so light, they were almost gray. Her lips-which were supple and pink-were cut into by a scar on the right side, one that cascaded across her small, thin nose and continued to slice through the middle of her left brow.

"Jesus, Joker," he snapped at himself, realizing he'd let himself think about the Commander for far too long. "Get it together."

Shepard spent the remainder of the day reading about Eden Prime, the place they were headed for the shakedown run. It was the pinnacle of what human civilizations had to offer-it was a beautiful, successful farming colony, one of the first interstellar colonies formed by humanity. She was staring at pictures in the brochure she had picked up when she heard a commotion coming from the CIC. She rushed up the stairs to see most of the crew, staring at Captain Anderson and...a turian? Shepard pushed her way through the crowd to see what this was about, hand on her pistol, which she always kept with her.

"Captain?" she questioned upon arriving next to him, the unknown turian standing at the airlock, enough firepower to wipe out everyone on the ship.

"At ease, Commander," the Captain cautioned. "I'd like to introduce you to Nihlus, a council Spectre. He's going to be accompanying us on our shakedown run."

"The Council sent me to see how their investment is paying off," Nihlus elaborated. "A pleasure to meet you, Commander Shepard. The Captain has told me a great deal about you."

Arya extended her hand to the turian, who shook her hand in return. "Pleasure to meet you," she said nervously, going through the motions but not trusting the Spectre. Though she didn't know much about them, she knew Spectres worked alone, not on ships with an entire crew of other soldiers. Nihlus wrapped up his conversation with Captain Anderson and the crowd dispersed, leaving her standing at the airlock.

"So, a Spectre? That's…something else" she heard coming from her right, and it made her jump. She thought she was alone, but looking at the time, she'd noticed it was almost time for take off.

She walked over to the cockpit, eyeing Joker for the second time today. When she had met him the first time, she was surprised at his appearance. Most pilots were the scrawny, nerdy type-well, scrawny for the military anyway. Joker's shirt hugged his arms tightly, showing more definition than you'd expect. He had piercing green eyes, eyes that Shepard would get lost in if she'd give herself the time.

"Joker, Jesus!" she shouted, giving away the fact that he'd scared her.

"I'm not Jesus, thanks for the compliment though, hear he was a handsome guy" he remarked snidely, "did you not expect to see the pilot in the cockpit?"

"Oh, so you've got a mouth on you, huh?" she remarked. She appreciated his quick wit, but decided to have a little fun of her own. "I'm sure we can find a pilot that won't talk back."

Joker looked up at her then, fear on his face, "Uh, Commander, I-"

"Settle down, Joker," Shepard chuckled, convinced that she'd won that encounter. "I was only joking. Are you going to be up here all night?"

"Yeah, sleep is for the weak," Joker said, which caused Arya to roll her eyes. "I need to make sure we stay on course, at least for the first night. Don't know how this baby is gonna run when we get her going."

"Good, treat her well."

"I wouldn't treat her any worse than I'd treat any the ladies I've been with," Joker remarked.

"That doesn't give me confidence, Mr. Moreau," Shepard laughed heartily as she walked away.


	2. Chapter 2

Joker had spent all night finally getting to watch the Normandy in action. She flew smoother than he could've imagined. Before he knew it, he looked at his watch only to see that it was 2:00AM. He probably should sleep, but he was in awe of what his new baby could do.

If he was being honest, though, something else was keeping him up, and that was his new ship's XO. Earlier in the day he'd had a conversation with her, right after Nihlus had boarded the ship. There weren't many people that could keep up with Joker's sense of humor. Despite being given his nickname ironically, he knew being one step ahead of everyone and cracking jokes were some of his better qualities, but she had kept up with him-hell, if he was being honest, she may have even been one step ahead of him. He didn't have much to offer in terms of physicality, because his legs wouldn't work for shit, and he felt like he was at a disadvantage every time he spoke to her. Not only could she keep up with his banter, she was downright beautiful. He was definitely out of his depth.

"Hey, you," he heard someone whisper behind him, and he let out a screech he could only describe as 'girly'. He swung around to see a freshly showered Commander Shepard, wet hair cascading around her face in loose curls, wearing a plain white t-shirt and blue Alliance sweats, with a blanket wrapped around her. She was laughing hysterically at the noise that just came out of him.

"Can you not do that? I'd like to not have a heart attack, thanks," Joker was feeling defensive but a small smile started at the corners of his mouth before he bursted out in laughter with her.

As soon as she gained her composure, Shepard sat next to him in the co-pilot's seat, putting down two mugs. She took packages of cream and sugar out of her pocket and laid them out before Joker. "You said you'd be up all night," she said softly, trying to not wake any more people than they'd probably already disturbed. "I thought I'd bring you some coffee." She took one blanket off from around her and revealed another, placing the top layer on the arm of Joker's chair. "I also thought you might want this, just in case."

She smiled at him softly, and all Joker could do was stare at her. This woman, who he'd not even known for a full 24 hours, was more of a comfort to him than anyone had been when he was in flight school. Questioning his stare, the Commander smirked and said, "I just took a shower, you don't need to worry about it stinking, I don't have cooties."

Joker laughed at her using the word cooties, but took the blanket and wrapped it around him, taking in the smell of pomegranate and vanilla from Shepard's body wash. He grabbed his mug of coffee and said, "Thanks, but this doesn't make up for you almost killing me, you know."

"Hey, if I wanted to kill you, you'd know," the Commander jested. She adjusted herself on the co-pilot's chair, leaning it back a bit, before asking, "Mind if I keep you company?"

"Well, you've already made yourself comfortable and I don't want to give you an actual reason to want to kill me, so be my guest." Joker felt her smile as he fiddled with the ship's controls and double checked that they were staying on course.

"How's the Normandy performing?" Shepard asked, her eyes closed while she took a sip from her mug. "Is she everything they said she'd be?"

"She's the best ship in the fleet, if you've got a pilot who knows how to handle her," Joker said confidently. "Balance isn't what you'd expect, takes a while to get used to that oversized drive core we've got stuffed in the back, and her power can sneak up on you if you're not careful." He smirked before adding, "The Normandy's probably too much ship for your average Alliance pilot, Commander. Lucky for you, I'm anything but average."

"Oh I'll bet," Shepard muttered, which brought a blush to Joker's cheeks. _Was she flirting with him? Damn it, how is she this good?_

"So, Commander, what are you doing up this late?" Joker changed the subject as quickly as possible, trying to hide his embarrassment from the Commander.

"Please just call me Shepard or Arya," she insisted. "I always do this when I get posted to a new command, it's exciting. Also…"

She trailed off before asking, "You're a pilot, so I'd imagine you have to have good instincts, rely on your gut a lot, right?"

He sensed her anxiety, and knew exactly where she was going with the conversation, and nodded before she continued, "What does your gut tell you about this shakedown run?"

When Nihlus had come on board, the entire mood of the ship shifted, at least, Joker had thought so. Even with this ship being a joint project between the Council and the Alliance, it was odd that they'd send a Spectre to keep an eye on things. Shakedown runs were supposed to be fast and easy, just a test of what the ship could do-an ambassador would be needed for that, not a soldier.

"Honestly Comma-Shepard," Joker sighed. "I don't trust that we've been told everything there is to know about this mission."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

Shepard took a long sip from her mug before changing the subject. "You know," she started, "Never in a million years when I was back on Earth would I have pictured myself on a ship like this."

"I don't think any of us would have," Joker replied. "How'd you become so fascinated with ships and technology?"

"Well, my pre-Alliance history is public record, no sense in hiding it. Before I joined the Alliance, I ran with a gang back on Earth. My parents had abandoned me, these people were my family. I was in charge of the shuttles-at first my job was just to make sure they kept running, but after a while I started modding them, putting mini drive cores in them to speed them up. It just 'took off' from there, pun intended."

Joker laughed aloud at Shepard's corny pun. Gathering up all the courage he could, he placed his hand on Shepard's arm and said said, "For what it's worth, I'm glad you joined the Alliance." She looked at him tenderly before he added, "It's nice not being the most sarcastic asshole on the ship."

Shepard hit him playfully, and while he flinched from the pain, there was a smile all over his face.

Arya had been speaking to Joker throughout the night, talking about anything and everything. If she was being honest with herself, something attracted her to him. His sense of humor was infectious, and he was gorgeous. When he had touched her before, just a simple touch on the arm, she felt sparks running through her. She needed to know more about him, and she'd found the excuse she needed to ask.

After their conversation had died down a little bit, she started up again, "I like to know my crew. Mind if I ask you a few questions?"

She saw Joker's face drop immediately, hands flying off the controls. "I can see where this is going," he scoffed, "you did a background check on me, didn't you? Well, I'll tell you the same thing I told the Captain: you want _me_ as your pilot. I'm not good, I'm not even great-I am the best damn helmsman in the Alliance fleet. Top of my class in flight school? I _earned_ that. All those commendations in my file? I earned every single one. Those weren't given to me as charity for my disease."

Arya stopped dead in her tracks, it was the first time she'd seen any display of emotion like that from the pilot. "I'm sorry Joker," she muttered, sad that she had made him upset. "I didn't even know you were sick."

"You mean? You mean you didn't know. Oh, crap." Joker dropped his head before continuing,

"Okay, I've got Vrolik's Syndrome, brittle bone disease. The bones in my legs never developed properly, they're basically hollow, too much force and they'll shatter. Even with crutches and my leg braces it's hard to get around. One wrong step and 'crack!' It's very dramatic. But I've learned to manage my condition, Commander. Put the Normandy in my hands and I'll make her dance for you. Just don't ask me to get up and dance unless, you know, you like the sound of snapping shin bones."

When Joker finally looked at Arya again, she did her best to convey that she didn't pity him. Even knowing him for as short a time as she did, she knew he wouldn't want her pity. When he seemed confident enough that he wasn't being viewed as a victim, he continued.

"It's an extremely rare condition. Nobody knows exactly what causes it, genetic, maybe. It's treatable, but there's no cure. They classify my case as moderate to severe. I was born with over a dozen fractures-hip, thighs, ankles-my bones were already breaking in the womb. A hundred years ago I wouldn't have survived past my first year. Lucky for me, modern medical science has turned me into a productive member of society."

Arya took this time to rest her hand on his arm now. "Thank you for telling me. I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable. Let's talk about something else." She saw his expression soften before continuing, "Why does everyone call you Joker?"

"It's a lot shorter than saying Alliance Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau. Plus I love to make little children laugh," Joker smirked again and she knew she'd done her best to make him feel better.

"I was just thinking how much you remind me of Santa Claus," Arya jested, getting joker to laugh.

"Look, I didn't pick the name. One of the instructors in flight school used to bug me about never smiling. She started calling me Joker and it stuck."

"Why didn't you ever smile?" she questioned.

"Hey, I worked my ass off in flight school, Commander-shit, Shepard. The world's not gonna hand you anything if you go around grinning like an idiot. By the end of the year, I was the best pilot in the academy, even better than the instructors and everybody knew it. They'd all gotten their asses kicked by the sickly kid with the creaky little legs. One guess who was smiling at graduation."

Joker was amazed that Shepard cared so much about his personal life. Not only that, she made him feel better about his condition without pitying him, which he appreciated. After talking to her for a while more, telling her about his family, he noticed she drifted off to sleep. He watched her, curled up in a ball on the co-pilot's chair until he too fell asleep, her scent wrapped around him.


End file.
